Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1369939
3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 MAY 2021 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications Unprofessional real estate agents DUE to the current government in- centives of reducing taxes on sale of properties as a consequence to the pre- vailing COVID-19 pandemic, sales of immobile properties have boomed, and real estate agents have flourished. They never had it so good, and their income has increased considerably. No wonder then that there are so many agents and several branches opening in every town and village in Malta. Good luck to them. But human greed knows no bounds. As if the hefty agency fee inclusive of VAT of 6% (or 3.5% for sole agency) is not enough, agents are nowadays also claiming a substantial proportion of the deposit which is due to the seller if the purchaser fails to show up for the final deed without giving any valid reason at law. From time immemorial, such a de- posit amounting to 10% of the sale price of the property was considered to be compensation to the seller for (a) having bound his property for a now prolonged period of six to nine months (due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bank loans delays) (b) deprived of selling same property even to higher bidders in the meantime, and (c) time wastage (time costs money). On the other hand, agents should not be entitled to any portion of such deposit because generally it would be their fault for the sale not materialising due to the failure of making a proper due diligence testing of purchaser's potential to abide by the promise of sale agreement (konvenju) which they are duty bound to do. Most repugnant and deplorable is the deceitful way such irresponsible agents are adapting in tricking the clients by withholding the information pertaining to the engagement of their services. When asked to provide a copy of the agency agreement, most real estate agents avoid this as if this was a trade secret. They will leave the signing of this contract to an occasion when the client is caught unawares i.e. a short while after the signing of a konvenju be- tween the seller and buyer even though their firm would already be stipulated as entitled to the commission in the promise of sale agreement. This would take place just after leaving the notary's office. They would then present a one-page paper entitled "Services Fees" and pen to their client, and when the client enquires whether there are any other conditions involved, s/he would be told that this is what the parties (sell- er and agency) had agreed upon. On this one-page document there will be in large letters the details of the seller and buyer of the property, the agency fee applicable, the name of the agency involved and the date. After the client signs the document and asks for a copy of it as they are entitled to, the agents will excuse themselves by saying that they do not have a copy in hand but will be sending a copy to the client in due course. Any professional worth their salt knows that whenever an agreement is signed, all parties are to be provided with a copy. When this copy of fees agreement is not received by the client, they will remind the agents of their obligation to provide them with a copy. Sometime later, when this scanned copy is finally received as an attach- ment to an email, the client will notice that besides the large lettering of the es- sential data there will also be small let- tering words barely visible to the naked eye (especially in cases where clients are constrained to remove their spec- tacles whilst wearing COVID-19 face masks to avoid fogging their spectacles) and these will be additional conditions involved which would infringe on the client's rightful entitlements such as laying claim to a substantial portion of the konvenju's deposit payment of 10% of the selling price if purchasers do not honour such agreements unreasonably, of which they would claim from ten and even twenty percent. This would be a condition of which the client would not have been previ- ously informed. The deceptive way by which such agreements are conducted is in clear vi- olation of ACT No. XXXII of 2020 Part IV, Article 12 and it is expected that the Authorities take the necessary steps to punish and avoid such violations. A copy of the aforementioned agency service fee agreement is attached. Raymond Sammut Mellieha